Metadata: Expenditure Flemish government

Department of Finance and Budget

ESR expenditure: expenditure that is consolidated across all entities that fall within the Flemish government according to the rules of the European System of Accounts (ESA). Consolidation means that the internal flows (receipts and expenditure) between these entities are not included. ESR is the European standard for national and regional accounts.

Current or nominal prices: prices of the year in question, not adjusted for inflation.

COFOG classification: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has developed an internationally comparable functional classification for governments: Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG). For the expenditure of the Flemish government and local authorities, the highest level (2 digits) with the following 10 categories is used here:

General government (code 01)

Defence (code 02)

Public order and safety (code 03)

Economic affairs (code 04)

Environmental protection (code 05)

Housing and communal facilities (code 06)

Health (code 07)

Recreation, culture and religion (code 08)

Education (code 09)

Social protection (code 10)

The data are actual figures. This concerns the actual transactions and not the projected figures from the budget and its revisions.

ESR codes: ESR is the European standard for national and regional accounts and is therefore comparable across Europe. ESR is used by the Member States of the European Union and was last updated in 2010 (ESR 2010).

The classification derived from the European System of Accounts (ESA) divides the expenditure at the highest level as follows:

Current expenditure

Current expenditure on goods and services (code 1)

Interest (code 2)

Current transfers to other sectors (code 3)

Current transfers within the government sector (code 4)

Capital expenditure (investment expenditure)

Capital transfers to other sectors (code 5)

Capital transfers within the government sector (code 6)

Investments (code 7)

Credits and participations (code 8)

Government debt (code 9)

ESA expenditure: expenditure that is consolidated across all entities that fall within the perimeter of the Flemish government according to the ESA rules. Consolidation means that the internal flows (receipts and expenditure) are not included within that perimeter.

Codes 8 (Credits and participations) and 9 (Government debt) are not included in ESR expenditure (see ESR codes above).

The data are administrative data that are centralized within the Department of Finance and Budget.

Department Finance and Budget: Vlaamse rekening (in Dutch)(opens in new window)

Expenditure Flemish government